N. Korea Can Make Nuke Parts at Home: Experts

In this image taken from video, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles while watching a military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the country's founding, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, in Pyongyang. (AP Photo/KRT via AP Video)

(Newser)
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International authorities have for years used export and trade sanctions to keep North Korea from building a nuclear weapon; just today, Chinese officials posted 236 pages of materials barred from export to the North. But such methods might be pointless: Pyongyang appears capable of making important centrifuge parts on its own turf, US experts say—a capability it's had since 2009 at the latest. "If they're not importing these goods in the first place, then we can't catch them in the act," a nuclear proliferation expert tells the AP.

"We won't necessarily see anything more than what the North Koreans want us to see," he adds. In an upcoming report, researchers cite several pieces of "strong and clear" evidence for their theory. For one thing, in the early 2000s, Pyongyang was importing quantities of centrifuge parts; that seems to have stopped. State media photos show centrifuge-building equipment, while media and scientific reports and propaganda suggest progress. (Read more North Korea stories.)

This changes nothing. NK has been nuke capable for decades. So what's the story here?

codenameradical

Sep 24, 2013 1:04 PM CDT

So ... we thought it was hard to make aluminum tubes? Or maybe we thought the electric motor was a wonder they hadn't grasped? Anyone can make nuclear bombs at home. The barrier is the cost and time of refining the material for the warhead, and of course making it at the purity/quality levels required for yield. That's why guarding existing stock is such a big deal. We can't be sure if they buy or make materials aimed at refining nuclear material. We can only watch them build facilities that are about right for it, and perhaps detect radiation.